America Bay – Shield and Kangaroo

Summary: A giant kangaroo and mundoe (and nearby shield), probably of mythological importance

  • Site type: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 3
  • Motif/s: Kangaroo, Mundoe (foot), Shield
  • Quality: 3/5
  • Condition of site: Good
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1898
  • Originally Recorded by: W.D. Campbell, F.D. McCarthy
  • Campbell Reference: BROKEN BAY Plate 17 Fig 5 in Aboriginal Carving of Port Jackon and Broken Bay (Download)
  • McCarthy reference: BROKEN BAY Mankind Group 101 in Catalogue of Rock Engravings (1983)

On the opposite side of West Head Road to the America Bay track is a large kangaroo and shield, on adjacent rock platforms.

engraving plate xvii fig5 2 1 America Bay - Shield and Kangaroo

The kangaroo – which is over six metres in length – was recorded and described by Campbell as “a very fine figure of a kangaroo over eighteen feet long, with all four legs shown and open mouth.“

awat1057 lr America Bay - Shield and Kangaroo

Parts of the kangaroo are quite weathered and the area around his head is very rough, making it hard to identify the “open mouth”. Conversely, some of the detail in the kangaroo’s paws are very well preserved.

  • awat1155 lr America Bay - Shield and Kangaroo
  • awat0291 lr America Bay - Shield and Kangaroo
A shield, with many of its puncture marks still clearly visible, is engraved about 30m away on adjacent rock platform.
awat0987 lr America Bay - Shield and Kangaroo
Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Hiking the World, and receive notifications of new posts by email. (A hike is added every 1-2 weeks, on average.)

Join 644 other subscribers

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Aboriginal Sites by National Park

Aboriginal Rock Art – Blue Mountains National Park
Red Hands Cave, Glenbrook (Blue Mountains)
The Blue Mountains National Park (and surrounding areas along the Great Western Highway) is thought to have over a thousand indigenous heritage sites, although much of the park has not been comprehensively surveyed. The Aboriginal rock sites in the Blue Mountains include grinding grooves, stensils, drawing and rock carvings.
Aboriginal Rock Art – Lane Cove
Over 40 sites have been recorded within the park; many were located along the river bank and were flooded by the building of the weir in 1938.
Aboriginal Rock Art in the Greater Blue Mountains
The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area protects over 3,000 known Aboriginal heritage sites, and many more which are yet to be recorded. This area includes the Blue Mountains National Park, Gardens of Stone, Wollemi National Park and Yengo National Park.
Photographing Aboriginal rock art
A review of different techniques for photographing Aboriginal rock art. This includdes oblique flash, chain and planar mosaic imaging which combines hundreds of overlapping photos.